Swift In Cab Camera

Whoever "Driver" is will find out that, like automatic transmissions, inboard cameras are coming to your truck cab. Whatever company you drive for.

The buzz strip alarm going off two times a few seconds apart will trigger recording. Because of that, I got called in for eating Oreos. A finger wag "self coach", nothing more.

And just in case, when I change clothes, I face the back of the truck, and if it's recording, the camera gets the moon.

Paul J wrote:

Additionally, the cameras can be remotely activated, so footage can be captured and uploaded without an event occurring. (I have first hand experience with this, but you can check the DriveCam website if you don't believe it.) What if this happens while you are off duty and engaged in a very personal phone conversation (it records audio, too) or what if a husband and wife team are engaged in a moment of intimacy and the camera is remotely activated? Seems like an invasion of privacy to me.

Paul tell us about your first hand experience of a remote camera activation and upload.

I know first hand how the Swift cameras operate and are configured. Involved with two different beta tests. Swift cannot invoke/ activate a remote upload, not possible. Only event triggered .

Lived with a camera for two years and never had anything like that happen. Operate your truck safely and the camera is a non-issue, benign.

I'm a fuel hauler. During my training I was advised by our lead driver that the camera would likely activate randomly for approximately 1 minute intervals and that footage would be downloaded for the purpose of analyzing driving habits. Sure enough, several times over a two week period the camera activated and stayed on for about a minute without any sort of triggering event. It hasn't been remotely activated since i finished training.

But my anecdotal evidence aside, here it is right from the source:

http://www.lytx.com/resource-center/frequently-asked-questions

Q. What can activate the VER to store an event?

A. There are many reasons why a VER will record a video event. Some of these are related to risky driving behaviour, such as abrupt changes in speed or direction, which can indicate erratic or distracted driving; stopping, slowing or changing direction in a very short time could indicate a shock caused by a collision. There are also many regular driving conditions that are unrelated to risky driving that can cause a VER to store an event, including rough, uneven roads, or entering or exiting a drive-way. Additionally, all DriveCam VERs have manual buttons that can be used by the driver to activate the VER in case of an event. Some installations also have remote manual switches that are used to activate a VER remotely.

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So, g-town, it's not only possible, but actually happening out there.

Paul J wrote:

Additionally, the cameras can be remotely activated, so footage can be captured and uploaded without an event occurring. (I have first hand experience with this, but you can check the DriveCam website if you don't believe it.) What if this happens while you are off duty and engaged in a very personal phone conversation (it records audio, too) or what if a husband and wife team are engaged in a moment of intimacy and the camera is remotely activated? Seems like an invasion of privacy to me.

Paul tell us about your first hand experience of a remote camera activation and upload.

I know first hand how the Swift cameras operate and are configured. Involved with two different beta tests. Swift cannot invoke/ activate a remote upload, not possible. Only event triggered .

Lived with a camera for two years and never had anything like that happen. Operate your truck safely and the camera is a non-issue, benign.

I'm a fuel hauler. During my training I was advised by our lead driver that the camera would likely activate randomly for approximately 1 minute intervals and that footage would be downloaded for the purpose of analyzing driving habits. Sure enough, several times over a two week period the camera activated and stayed on for about a minute without any sort of triggering event. It hasn't been remotely activated since i finished training.

But my anecdotal evidence aside, here it is right from the source:

http://www.lytx.com/resource-center/frequently-asked-questions

Q. What can activate the VER to store an event?

A. There are many reasons why a VER will record a video event. Some of these are related to risky driving behaviour, such as abrupt changes in speed or direction, which can indicate erratic or distracted driving; stopping, slowing or changing direction in a very short time could indicate a shock caused by a collision. There are also many regular driving conditions that are unrelated to risky driving that can cause a VER to store an event, including rough, uneven roads, or entering or exiting a drive-way. Additionally, all DriveCam VERs have manual buttons that can be used by the driver to activate the VER in case of an event. Some installations also have remote manual switches that are used to activate a VER remotely.

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So, g-town, it's not only possible, but actually happening out there.

Thanks Paul for some facts.

However everything in that paragraph is an event trigger with the exception of the driver activation switch, which I have used more than once. The remote switch you mention is an option and not installed on Swift cameras. Your company, due to the nature of your product (hazmat) may have different rules. Your company should have given you a document clearly describing their operation.

It depends on the number of sensors and how they are adjusted for sensitivity. In addition over time the camera actually "learns electronically" the difference between a bumpy road and a true event. When first installed darn near everything sets them off. When I had a new camera, getting under a trailer would set it off, not anymore.

Paul J avers:

Sure enough, several times over a two week period the camera activated and stayed on for about a minute without any sort of triggering event. It hasn't been remotely activated since i finished training.

Sure enough, the light comes on. Did you get any feedback on those times, did anyone want to talk to you about it?

My Swift inside camera red light does occasionally come on. I believe that's for its own operation. Once it came on while talking to my DM. I asked her but she had no idea.

Some installations also have remote manual switches that are used to activate a VER remotely.

You bolded this last sentence. "Some" doesn't mean anything unless you know "which". Swift isn't going to hide something like that because if that "secret" gets out, lawyers will jump in. Fast.

If you want to live a paranoid lifestyle, well it's a free country. I'd rather just live a clean life and not worry. And instead of cutting down on the Oreos, I'll just pay more attention to the buzz lines.

Sure enough, the light comes on. Did you get any feedback on those times, did anyone want to talk to you about it?

No, my driving was on point at those times. I have had an occasional coachable moment since, though.

My Swift inside camera red light does occasionally come on. I believe that's for its own operation. Once it came on while talking to my DM. I asked her but she had no idea.

I've already stated what I was told by our lead driver. And I've already demonstrated the camera capabilities for remote operation. Not sure why you doubt me, but, whatever. I won't lose any sleep over it.

You bolded this last sentence. "Some" doesn't mean anything unless you know "which". Swift isn't going to hide something like that because if that "secret" gets out, lawyers will jump in. Fast.

I bolded the last sentence b/c it was the relevant part. g-town said remote activation wasn't possible. That sentence states authoritatively that it is.

If you want to live a paranoid lifestyle, well it's a free country. I'd rather just live a clean life and not worry. And instead of cutting down on the Oreos, I'll just pay more attention to the buzz lines.

Paranoid lifestyle? How so? I've presented simple, straightforward facts. No conspiracy theories here.

I don't have a problem with the camera or its remote activation capability. But I drive a day-cab. I would, however, have a problem with it if my truck was also my off-duty living space, as it is for most otr drivers. It's wrong for a video/audio recorder to be "on" when a driver is off duty.

Sure enough, the light comes on. Did you get any feedback on those times, did anyone want to talk to you about it?

No, my driving was on point at those times. I have had an occasional coachable moment since, though.

My Swift inside camera red light does occasionally come on. I believe that's for its own operation. Once it came on while talking to my DM. I asked her but she had no idea.

I've already stated what I was told by our lead driver. And I've already demonstrated the camera capabilities for remote operation. Not sure why you doubt me, but, whatever. I won't lose any sleep over it.

You bolded this last sentence. "Some" doesn't mean anything unless you know "which". Swift isn't going to hide something like that because if that "secret" gets out, lawyers will jump in. Fast.

I bolded the last sentence b/c it was the relevant part. g-town said remote activation wasn't possible. That sentence states authoritatively that it is.

If you want to live a paranoid lifestyle, well it's a free country. I'd rather just live a clean life and not worry. And instead of cutting down on the Oreos, I'll just pay more attention to the buzz lines.

Paranoid lifestyle? How so? I've presented simple, straightforward facts. No conspiracy theories here.

I don't have a problem with the camera or its remote activation capability. But I drive a day-cab. I would, however, have a problem with it if my truck was also my off-duty living space, as it is for most otr drivers. It's wrong for a video/audio recorder to be "on" when a driver is off duty.

ITS NOT ON WHEN THE IGNITION IS OFF !!!!

Firstly, thanks for all the responses. I may have been somewhat harsh with my original post and thanks for making the edits.. I am getting acquainted with this camera, so it's an adjustment.

I back up Swift, because I think it is a great company. However. I personally don't agree with their decision using cameras inside.

I realize the the underline purpose of the camera being safety. A couple weeks ago, I was almost hit by another truck when the driver went through a stop light talking on his cell phone.

It is that with the camera, like I read does not appear to be event driven. Another driver explained that during lunch he had covered the camera and a few minutes later received a message that it was against policy to tamper with it.

If the camera would shut off when the truck was at a stop still(ie breaks, sleeping, etc), I would be much more favorable towards them.

I am a private person and enjoy my privacy. I am going to have learn to live behind a curtain.

I understand that I am in a vehicle that is not owned by me and Swift makes the rules.

Maybe I am over sensitive about being recorded, but it just how I feel. Others probably have no problem being monitored.

Anyway, thanks for all the feedback and am glad I could get opinions from others from this forum. Appogies if I was over the top on my original post.

At my last job, we had the smart drive system, with both inward and outward camera .

I'll explain how they told us it works. First off, nobody at your company is monitoring the cameras nor the recordings that the cameras send. The folks at smart drive do.

When my old company got into smart drive, they got together and our company gave smart drive a list of things that they wanted smart drive to look at. Then, they assigned a point value to each infraction, from 1 to 4.

If you triggered an event in your truck, such as a hard bump, too fast of a turn, hard stop..etc., if you were committing one of those infractions when the camera went off, you were assigned whatever point value was attached to it. Get too many points and you could be written up or fired.

None of this video would initially go to the company. Smart drive would monitor all incoming video, and if they witnessed an infraction, they would send the video to their website, which our managers would then get a notification that they had videos to view, and they could log into the website and do so.

1 and 2 infractions usually were only seen by our local manager, 3 and 4 infractions would be seen by the upper management. All videos could be seen by all upper management, but most of the time if it wasn't a 3 or 4, they didn't bother and left it to the local yard manager, who would then have to coach us on it.

We were told that there would be times that smart drive would be able to randomly sample recordings from any truck for review, meaning they would be able to manually record at will.

The smart drive system is always recording, but will only submit a video if a trigger happened, and then it would send a video of 20 seconds before and 20 seconds after the event.

We were initially told that all recordings were the result of a trigger event, however, when they would coach us on the event, they would show us the video, and what we discovered was that, in a lot of cases, there wasn't really a trigger, or if there was, it was such a light trigger that it didn't fall into the realm of what we were told a trigger would be. Things like coming to a normal stop at a light, making a normal turn, or even hitting a small bump in the road would all set off a trigger.

The smart drive system comprises of a few different components. The cameras in the vehicle, and a small solar panel or something, and an allceleromoter unit that was generally placed somewhere inside the vehicle in a place you couldn't see. Supposedly, this accelerometer works similar to the one in your phone.

Again, this is what we were led to believe from the company I worked for, so I don't know if it holds any truth or not.

ITS NOT ON WHEN THE IGNITION IS OFF !!!!

I just read this statement, which is very informative. I notice that the camera looses all power when in the ignition switch is off. That makes a huge difference.

BTW, the pamphlet that I got with the camera on the back with the FAQ states that there is no way to remotely trigger an ER or see a live view inside a cab.

Also it only saves videos with excessive speeds, g force or other potential unsafe driving events.

I read thru this thread and laughed...sorry. as a Postal Worker we not only had cameras on us constantly... but directional microphones recording our conversations... and inspectors on platforms with binoculars watching for theft. They didnt like to hire deaf people for 2 reasons.. 1. They had to stop working to sign...2. Not enough supervisors knew sign language to understand what was being said. They even timed how long we went to the bathroom and deducted it from our vacation time if they thought we took too long.

The whole "I'm a private person so now I have to live behind the curtain" made me chuckle. Before the camera you stripped naked in the front seat where other drivers could see u? Try being in the military without bathroom stalls.

I know swift drivers who put a shirt over it at night. Big deal. I would be more concerned about it getting triggered in construction zones and getting pulled in for rough roads I couldn't control than eating or drinking.